Automated Essay Scoring Systems
Dougal Hutchison · IGI Global eBooks · 2009
This chapter gives a relatively non-technical introduction to computer programs for marking of essays, generally known as Automated Essay Scoring (AES) systems. It identifies four stages in the process, which may be distinguished as training, summarising mechanical and structural aspects, describing content, and scoring, and describes how these are carried out in a number of commercially available programs. It considers how the validity of the process may be assessed, and reviews some of the evidence on how successful they are. It also discusses some of the ways in which they may fall down and describes some research investigating this. The chapter concludes with a discussion of possible future developments, and offers a number of searching questions for administrators considering the possibility of introducing AES in their own schools.